Icey 0.12.0

Highlights

• Icey 0.12 is the first version with Icey's own number. Earlier Icey versions carried Ice's last version, 0.11.13-dev.2, with "-icey" added.
  • 0.12.0 brings together everything from the seven Icey releases so far.
  • If you're coming from Ice, this page is the full picture of what changed.
• A menu bar manager that works on today's macOS. Icey runs on macOS 14 Sonoma, 15 Sequoia, 26 Tahoe and 27, and uses far less CPU, energy and WindowServer memory than Ice.
  • More than 300 issues reported against Ice are fixed or improved.
• Features Ice users asked for:
  • settings for each display
  • an Ice Bar that only appears where you want it
  • a choice of where new items land
  • export and import of your settings
  • Icey in nine more languages

Upgrading from 0.11.13-dev.2-icey.6

Nothing to do. The version number changes, but your settings, item layout, hotkeys and permissions stay as they are.

1. Wait for Icey to offer the update, or choose Settings > About > Check for Updates.
2. Install it, and Icey restarts on its own.

The update reaches every Icey version from 0.11.13-dev.2-icey.1 on, because updates are ordered by build number, not by version name.

Coming from Ice

Icey replaces Ice and keeps its settings, because it uses the same bundle identifier (com.jordanbaird.Ice).

1. Quit Ice.
2. Download Icey-0.12.0.dmg below, open it, and drag Icey.app to Applications.
3. Move the old Ice.app to the Trash, because two apps with the same identifier confuse macOS.
4. Open Icey and grant Accessibility, and optionally Screen Recording. macOS asks again because Icey is signed by a different developer.
5. If you used "Launch at login", turn it off and on again in Settings > General.
6. If your menu bar appearance was reset, which happens once when coming from Ice 0.11.12, set the tint, shadow, border and shape again.

See Compatibility for the details, and BREAKING_CHANGES.md for everything that ever needed action.

Features

Works on macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27

• macOS 26 Tahoe: the layout settings, the Ice Bar and search all work (#5).
  • Ice 0.11.12 showed "Unable to display menu bar items" in all three on Tahoe.
  • Ice 0.11.13-dev.2 improved this, but still crashed when you clicked its icon.
• macOS 27: hiding items, the Ice Bar, search and the layout editor work. Ice doesn't run there at all.
  • Settings that have no effect on macOS 27 are hidden: the divider style, "Hide app menus when showing menu bar items" and the temporary show interval. "New items appear in" isn't available there yet.
  • Items without a bundle identifier can't be moved between sections, and disabled controls say why (#5).

Settings for each display

Settings > Displays lists every connected display with its name, size, and whether it's built in or has a notch (#33). For each display you can set:

• Use Ice Bar: Follow General setting (the default), On, or Off. On and Off override the General settings for that display only.
  • For example, keep the Ice Bar on your MacBook's notched screen and turn it off on a wide external monitor.
• Show hidden items automatically: while you work on that display, your hidden items stay shown in the menu bar, as if you had clicked the Icey icon. Useful on a large monitor with plenty of room.
  • If you hide them yourself, they stay hidden until you move to another display.
  • Automatic rehide leaves them alone.
  • The always-hidden section still hides as usual.

macOS shows the same menu bar items on every display, so with two displays Icey follows the display you're working on and switches when you move. Displays you disconnect keep their settings under "Not Connected", where you can forget them. This feature is based on community work for Ice by Amir Pourmand (jordanbaird/Ice#612), and Michele Primavera and Lucas Garron (jordanbaird/Ice#413).

Choose where the Ice Bar appears

The Ice Bar shows hidden items in a bar below the menu bar, which helps on screens where a notch or a crowded menu bar hides them. Settings > General > Use Ice Bar > Use on now offers (#19, #33):

• All displays: the Ice Bar everywhere, as in Ice.
• Displays with a notch: only on screens with a camera notch.
• Built-in display: only on your Mac's own screen.
• Displays narrower than…: only on displays narrower than a width you choose, 1800 points by default. The Displays pane shows each display's width.
  • Based on jordanbaird/Ice#795 by Roni Laukkarinen.

On the other displays, hidden items show in the menu bar as if the Ice Bar were off. The Displays pane can override this for a single display.

• Fade in and out: turn on Settings > General > Use Ice Bar > Fade in and out for a short fade when the Ice Bar opens and closes. It's off by default.
  • Adapted from jordanbaird/Ice#1002 by gmkrxb (#27).

Choose where new menu bar items appear

In Ice, a newly installed app's item could land anywhere, often in the always-hidden section. Settings > General > New items appear in lets you choose Visible, Hidden or Always-Hidden (#19).

• How it works: when an app you haven't used with Icey adds an item, Icey moves it there once. After that it leaves the item alone, so items you rearrange stay where you put them.
• Limit: some apps remove and recreate their item, for example on every launch or for every call. macOS places the new item at the far left, so it can still end up in a hidden section.
  • Move it back in Menu Bar Layout.
• Not available on macOS 27.

Export and import your settings

Settings > Advanced > Export Settings… saves Icey's settings to a file. Import Settings… loads one, for example on a new Mac or after reinstalling, and restarts Icey (#19).

• What's included: the General, Hotkeys, Advanced, Displays and appearance settings.
• What isn't: the order of your menu bar items and the item spacing, because macOS keeps those, and "Launch at login".
• Values that don't make sense, such as a hotkey that doesn't exist, are skipped instead of crashing Icey (#27).

Icey in nine more languages

Icey is now in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese, in addition to English (#32).

• Choosing a language: Icey follows System Settings > General > Language & Region. To use a different language for Icey only, add Icey under Applications there.
• Where the translations come from: most come from community pull requests to Ice by gmkrxb (jordanbaird/Ice#1002) and keithadler (jordanbaird/Ice#983). The rest were machine-assisted.
• Corrections welcome: if a word reads oddly, a pull request to Ice/Localizable.xcstrings is the quickest fix.

Smaller additions

• Keep Icey out of the Dock: turn off Settings > Advanced > Show Icey in the Dock while Settings is open to keep Icey out of the Dock and the app switcher (#19).
• Liquid Glass on macOS 26 (#12):
  • a layered app icon that follows the default, dark, clear and tinted styles
  • a glass search panel, like Spotlight, that says when nothing matches
  • icons next to the items in Icey's menu
• From Ice 0.11.13:
  • Settings > Advanced > Section divider style.
  • An option to turn off the right-click menu in the menu bar, Settings > Advanced > Enable secondary context menu, for when it clashes with other apps (#5).
• Clearer permissions: the permissions window explains each permission, shows a checkmark once it's granted, and links straight to the right list in System Settings. The appearance editor says when Screen Recording is missing, since the menu bar styling needs it (#12, #17, #24).
• Updates from Icey:
  • Icey updates itself from its own releases, signed with its own key, so Ice's updater can no longer replace it.
  • The update framework is Sparkle 2.10, with its latest security fixes for installing updates (#5, #29).
• Star Icey on GitHub: the About pane has a button to star the project (#18).

Bug Fixes

Icey has gone through every issue reported against Ice. 219 are fixed and 90 more are improved. The Ice bugs fixed in Icey page lists each one, with what went wrong and what Icey does now. These are the ones you're most likely to notice.

Speed, energy and memory

• Energy use while moving the mouse: Ice listened to every mouse move, drag and scroll in the system, even with show on hover off. Icey listens only while a setting needs it (jordanbaird/Ice#334, #1).
• **CPU spikes after swi...

Icey 0.11.13-dev.2-icey.6

Highlights

• Icey speaks nine more languages. German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese, picked from your Mac's language settings (#32).
• Settings for each display. A new Displays pane lets each display use the Ice Bar or not, and show its hidden items automatically. The Ice Bar can also switch on by display width (#33).
• Safer updates and spacing. Icey's updater moves to Sparkle 2.10 with its security fixes, and applying item spacing no longer force quits your apps (#29, #30).

Features

• Languages: Icey follows System Settings > General > Language & Region. To use a different language for Icey only, add it under Applications there. Most translations come from community pull requests to Ice by gmkrxb (jordanbaird/Ice#1002) and keithadler (jordanbaird/Ice#983). The rest were machine-assisted, so corrections are welcome (#32).
• Displays pane: Settings > Displays lists your displays (#33). For each one:
  • Use Ice Bar: Follow General setting, On or Off.
  • Show hidden items automatically: hidden items stay shown in the menu bar while you work on that display. If you hide them yourself, they stay hidden until you move to another display.
  • Displays you disconnect keep their settings, and you can forget them.
  • Based on jordanbaird/Ice#612 by Amir Pourmand and #413 by Michele Primavera and Lucas Garron.
• Ice Bar by display width: Settings > General > Use Ice Bar > Use on > Displays narrower than…, with a width you choose. Wider displays show hidden items in the menu bar. Based on jordanbaird/Ice#795 by Roni Laukkarinen (#33).

Bug Fixes

• Applying item spacing closed apps without asking:
  • Before: Apply force quit any app that didn't quit within a second, so an app asking to save a document lost it.
  • Now: apps get ten seconds to quit. An app that doesn't quit, for example because it asks to save, stays open and is listed so you can restart it yourself. Only macOS's own menu bar helpers, which hold no documents, are still restarted by force (#30).

Compatibility

• New settings keep today's behavior. The Displays pane and the width option change nothing until you use them.

Maintenance

• Sparkle 2.10.0: the update framework moves from 2.8.0, picking up its security fixes for installing updates (#29).
• Cleanup: a check for menu bars that hide automatically never ran, so it's removed. Nothing changes for you (#31).
• Ice issue list: 166 more Ice issues are on the fixes page, so every Ice issue that Ice left open or closed without a fix is now listed there (#34).

Full diff: v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.5...v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.6

Icey 0.11.13-dev.2-icey.5

Highlights

• More reliable fullscreen detection on every macOS version. Icey misread which spaces are fullscreen, which affected the menu bar styling, show on hover and click, and the Ice Bar (#27).
• Fewer hangs and crashes. Applying item spacing can no longer hang. Odd values in a settings file no longer crash Icey at launch (#27).
• 100 more upstream items reviewed. Every open Ice pull request and 64 more Ice issues are checked, and the useful fixes from the pull requests are included with credit (#27).

Features

• Fade the Ice Bar in and out: turn on Settings > General > Use Ice Bar > Fade in and out for a short fade when the Ice Bar opens and closes. It's off by default. Adapted from jordanbaird/Ice#1002 by gmkrxb (#27).

Bug Fixes

Each fix says what went wrong before, and what happens now.

• Fullscreen detection:
  • Before: Icey read the type of each space wrongly, so a system space counted as fullscreen, and whether a real fullscreen space counted depended on how Icey was compiled.
  • Now: Icey reads the space type macOS reports, so only fullscreen spaces count. The menu bar styling, show on hover and click in fullscreen, and the Ice Bar all rely on this. From jordanbaird/Ice#980 by PWB97.
• Crash at launch from a settings value:
  • Before: a hotkey with an out-of-range key code, for example in an imported settings file, crashed Icey every time it started. A color with too few components could be misread.
  • Now: Icey ignores such values when it reads its settings. From jordanbaird/Ice#985 by godlockin.
• Menu Bar Item Spacing hanging on Apply:
  • Before: if an app survived being force-quit, Apply waited forever. An app could also fail to relaunch because its old copy was still listed as running.
  • Now: Icey stops waiting a second after the force-quit and reports the app as not restarted. It relaunches every app that quit. From jordanbaird/Ice#923 by heyalchang.
• Icey's own items not recognized on macOS 26:
  • Before: when macOS 26 couldn't tell which app owned an item, Icey failed to recognize its own dividers and kept rebuilding its item list. The helper that asks macOS about items could also lose its connection mid-request.
  • Now: Icey recognizes its dividers by name, and the helper reconnects on the next request. From jordanbaird/Ice#911 by tducp015 and #963 by lxy1992.
• A shortcut blocking typing:
  • Before: a shortcut saved for the always-hidden section stayed active while that section was turned off. Option-A, for example, stopped typing "å" in every app.
  • Now: the shortcut only works while the always-hidden section is on (jordanbaird/Ice#498).

These fixes weren't tested on every affected setup. Please report anything that still happens.

Maintenance

• Ice issue list: 67 more Ice issues are on the fixes page. Most are macOS 26 reports that earlier Icey versions already fix (#27).

Full diff: v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.4...v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.5

Icey 0.11.13-dev.2-icey.4

Highlights

• Mission Control no longer sets Icey off. Hidden items don't appear while you use Mission Control, and the menu bar styling isn't drawn on top of it (#24).
• Fewer stuck and stray items. Items opened from the Ice Bar go back where they belong. Moving an item no longer clicks it by accident in apps like Mullvad VPN and ProtonVPN (#24).
• No more Ice Bar hangs on macOS 26. The Ice Bar opens within a second even when macOS is slow to report the menu bar items (#24).

Bug Fixes

Each fix says what went wrong before, and what happens now.

• Mission Control:
  • Before: moving the pointer to the top of the screen in Mission Control showed the hidden items or opened the Ice Bar. After a space was deleted or switched in Mission Control, the menu bar styling was drawn over the space switcher.
  • Now: Icey recognizes Mission Control and waits for it to close (jordanbaird/Ice#714, #216).
• Wallpaper from the previous space:
  • Before: after switching spaces, the split or rounded shape kept showing the previous space's wallpaper.
  • Now: Icey uses the wallpaper of the space on screen, and captures it again once the switch has settled (jordanbaird/Ice#336, #337).
• Flicker when toggling the Dock:
  • Before: showing or hiding the Dock with Option-Command-D made the menu bar styling flicker.
  • Now: the styling is rebuilt only when a display really changes (jordanbaird/Ice#435).
• Apps opening by themselves, partly fixed:
  • Before: when Icey hid an item again, it sent an extra mouse release that some apps, such as Mullvad VPN and ProtonVPN, took for a click, so their window opened.
  • Now: Icey sends the extra release only if the item didn't respond to the first one (jordanbaird/Ice#766, #586).
• Items from the Ice Bar staying visible, partly fixed:
  • Before: an item clicked in the Ice Bar could stay in the visible section, for example when a Live Activity next to it changed size, or when its app re-added its item on click.
  • Now: Icey checks that the item really went back to its section and moves it there if not, and no longer mistakes a re-added item for an open menu (jordanbaird/Ice#729, #513, #799).
• Ice Bar and Icey hanging on macOS 26, partly fixed:
  • Before: if reading the menu bar items stalled, the Ice Bar never opened again, and Icey could stop responding with an external display connected.
  • Now: the Ice Bar opens within a second either way, and Icey's item helper can no longer tie up the rest of the app (jordanbaird/Ice#888, #790, #865).
• Wrong item clicked, partly fixed:
  • Before: clicking an item in the Ice Bar could open the Apple menu instead.
  • Now: Icey never clicks at a point that's off every display. It shows the item first (jordanbaird/Ice#642).
• Clicks in fullscreen with the Icey icon off, partly fixed:
  • Before: with the Icey icon turned off, clicking the top of a fullscreen app showed the hidden items.
  • Now: Icey checks whether the menu bar is really showing (jordanbaird/Ice#899).
• Menu bar appearance doing nothing, partly fixed:
  • Before: without the Screen Recording permission, tint, border, shadow and shape settings had no effect, with no explanation.
  • Now: the appearance editor says the permission is missing and links to it, and the appearance applies as soon as it's granted (jordanbaird/Ice#627, #525).
• Items that can't be moved:
  • Before: moving an item such as an iPhone Live Activity failed with "took too long to respond".
  • Now: the alert says the item didn't move and that some items may not allow moving (jordanbaird/Ice#704).

These fixes come from reading the code and the reports. Most weren't reproduced on the affected setups. Please report anything that still happens.

Maintenance

• Ice issue list: every Ice bug still open in Icey's list was investigated (#24, #25).
  • 22 that nothing in the code explains, and that couldn't be reproduced, are now closed. Each says how to get it reopened.
  • Six with a known cause stay open, including the item limit on very wide displays (jordanbaird/Ice#94).
  • See the fixes page.
• Sponsor button removed: the repository's GitHub Sponsor button, which pointed to Ice's author, is gone. Icey asks for a star instead (#23).

Full diff: v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.3...v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.4

Icey 0.11.13-dev.2-icey.3

Highlights

• Four of the most requested Ice features. Use the Ice Bar only on some displays, choose where new menu bar items appear, export and import your settings, and keep Icey out of the Dock while Settings is open. Each is off by default, so nothing changes until you turn it on (#19).

• About 30 more Ice bugs fixed or improved:

  • Items no longer drift into the wrong section across restarts.
  • Rehide no longer closes the menu or popover you're using.
  • "Hide application menus" works.
  • Option-click works with Caps Lock on.
  • The menu bar styling comes back after login and sleep.

  See the full list (#17, #20, #22).

Features

• Ice Bar on chosen displays: Settings > General > Use Ice Bar > Use on. Choose All displays, Displays with a notch, or Built-in display. On other displays, hidden items show in the menu bar as if the Ice Bar were off. Useful with a MacBook and a wide external display (jordanbaird/Ice#223, #703, #797, #19).
• Where new menu bar items appear: Settings > General > New items appear in. Choose Visible, Hidden or Always-Hidden. When an app you haven't used with Icey adds an item, Icey moves it there once and then leaves it alone, so items you rearrange stay where you put them. Not available on macOS 27 (jordanbaird/Ice#767, #6, #19).
• Export and import settings: Settings > Advanced > Export Settings… saves Icey's settings to a file. Import Settings… loads one, for example on another Mac, and relaunches Icey. The order of menu bar items and item spacing aren't included, because macOS keeps those (jordanbaird/Ice#326, #19).
• No Dock icon while Settings is open: turn off Settings > Advanced > Show Icey in the Dock while Settings is open to keep Icey out of the Dock and the app switcher (jordanbaird/Ice#724, #19).
• Star Icey on GitHub: the About pane has a button to star the project, in place of the old donate button (#18).

Bug Fixes

Each fix says what went wrong before, and what happens now.

• Items moving to the wrong section after a restart:
  • Before: macOS saves where a menu bar item sits only when that item is dragged, and Icey's dividers never are. After a restart the dividers came back at old positions, so visible items or the Icey icon landed in the hidden section, and hidden items in the always-hidden section. Repairing the divider order also pushed every hidden item into always-hidden at once.
  • Now: Icey saves where its icon and dividers are when it quits, and repairs the order without emptying the hidden section (jordanbaird/Ice#769, #702, #732).
• Rehide closing the menu or popover you're using:
  • Before: clicking a switch or dragging a slider in another app's popover, or using a hidden item's menu, hid the items and closed it.
  • Now: rehide waits while a menu or popover is open below the menu bar, and clicks inside one don't count as clicks outside (jordanbaird/Ice#403, #526, #621, #452).
• "Hide application menus":
  • Before: macOS could refuse Icey's request to become the active app, so only a Dock icon appeared and the menus stayed. Showing the always-hidden section right after the hidden one measured the items before they moved. After a restart, the Dock icon could stay for minutes.
  • Now: Icey takes focus when its request is refused (unless you switched apps), waits for the items to move, and gives the menus back as soon as no section is shown (jordanbaird/Ice#879, #620, #144, #808).
• Caps Lock and the Fn key:
  • Before: with Caps Lock on, Option-click and Control-click acted like plain clicks, and items clicked in the Ice Bar or search never opened.
  • Now: only Shift, Control, Option and Command count (jordanbaird/Ice#644, #845).
• Menu bar styling missing after login or sleep:
  • Before: if the menu bar wasn't there yet when Icey started, or after the displays changed during sleep, the tint, border or shape didn't appear until a space change or a restart of Icey.
  • Now: Icey keeps trying for about two minutes, and again whenever the displays wake (jordanbaird/Ice#409, #53).
• Menu bar shape size:
  • Before: the inset shape and the Ice Bar cut off items on a notched display at a lower resolution. The full shape was a few pixels short on displays without a notch. The split shape's right half could hold a long blank stretch.
  • Now: the inset never makes the shape shorter than an item, square-ended shapes fill the menu bar's height, and the right half ends at the last item (jordanbaird/Ice#260, #657, #608, #676).
• Menu Bar Layout pane:
  • Before: after you dragged an item to another section, the section it came from stopped updating until the pane was reopened. A failed move left the item drawn where you dropped it. Items touching a divider at a fractional position on a scaled display were missing.
  • Now: every section stays up to date, a failed move redraws the item where it really is, and those items show (jordanbaird/Ice#283, #300, #233, #861, #918, #655). Partly fixed.
• An item shown from the Ice Bar staying visible, partly fixed:
  • Before: if the item's app was quitting or relaunching when it was due to go back, Icey forgot it, and it stayed visible from then on.
  • Now: Icey keeps trying for about a minute and a half (jordanbaird/Ice#513).
• Pointer disappearing, partly fixed:
  • Before: Icey hid the pointer while putting shown items back, including while it waited for you to stop moving the mouse.
  • Now: it's hidden only for the moment each item moves (jordanbaird/Ice#751, #757).
• Clicks triggering Icey by mistake, partly fixed:
  • Before: moving between an app's menus, or clicking the top of a fullscreen app on a second display, could show the hidden items.
  • Now: neither does (jordanbaird/Ice#567, #899).
• Crash when showing a hidden item:
  • Before: in Ice 0.11.12, clicking a hidden item could crash the app when Ice couldn't find the hidden section's divider (crash log in the report).
  • Now: Icey checks for that case, so it doesn't crash (jordanbaird/Ice#563).
• Smaller fixes:
  • The item spacing slider shows your saved value after launch (jordanbaird/Ice#392).
  • The Icey icon reappears properly when you turn it back on (jordanbaird/Ice#329).
  • The permissions window links straight to the right System Settings list (jordanbaird/Ice#1004).

These fixes come from reading the code and the reports. Most weren't reproduced on the affected setups, such as multiple displays, ultrawide displays or the specific apps named in the reports. Please report anything that still happens.

Compatibility

• New settings keep today's behavior. Nothing changes until you pick something else in the new settings.
• Very wide displays: on displays wider than about 5,000 points, some hidden items can still show. macOS limits how far Icey can push them (jordanbaird/Ice#94).

Full diff: v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.2...v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.3

Icey 0.11.13-dev.2-icey.2

Highlights

• A Liquid Glass look on macOS 26. A new layered app icon, a glass search panel and icons in Icey's menu (#12).
• 12 more Ice bugs fixed: apps with several menu bar items (such as OneDrive), second displays, menu bars that hide automatically, mouse-wheel scrolling and "Hide application menus". See the full list (#11, #14).

Features

• App icon: a layered icon that macOS 26 renders with Liquid Glass in the default, dark, clear and tinted styles. Before, macOS 26 showed the old icon on a gray backing (#12).
• Search panel: a glass panel on macOS 26, like Spotlight. On every version, the field has a search icon, and a search with no matches says so (#12).
• Menu: on macOS 26, each item in Icey's menu has an icon (#12).
• Permissions window: clearer text, a checkmark for granted permissions, and Return to continue (#12).

Bug Fixes

Each fix says what went wrong before, and what happens now.

• Apps with several menu bar items, such as OneDrive with more than one account:
  • Before: clicking one of the app's hidden items made Icey treat all of them as shown. The others disappeared from Icey's item list, and when the items were hidden again, Icey could move the wrong one.
  • Now: Icey tracks each item on its own, so only the item you clicked is shown and put back (jordanbaird/Ice#857, #739, #404).
• A second display when "Displays have separate Spaces" is off:
  • Before: Icey treated the top of every display as a menu bar, but with that setting off only the main display has one. Clicks near the top of the other displays, such as on a browser tab or a window title, were swallowed, and right-clicks opened Icey's menu.
  • Now: Icey only reacts at the top of a display that has a menu bar (jordanbaird/Ice#456, #646, #639, #383).
• "Automatically hide and show the menu bar" turned on in System Settings:
  • Before: Icey only counted the top pixel row of the screen as the menu bar. Show on hover, click and scroll needed the pointer pressed against the screen edge, and shown items or the Ice Bar closed as soon as the pointer moved down onto the menu bar.
  • Now: the whole menu bar counts, once it slides into view (jordanbaird/Ice#708, #286, #331).
• Show on scroll with a mouse wheel:
  • Before: it only worked on a trackpad. A wheel scrolls in small steps that never reached Icey's trigger.
  • Now: one notch of the wheel shows or hides the items (jordanbaird/Ice#717).
• "Hide application menus" with the always-hidden section turned off:
  • Before: the app's menus (File, Edit and so on) stayed visible under the items you revealed, because Icey skipped exactly those items when it checked for overlap.
  • Now: the menus hide when revealed items need the space (jordanbaird/Ice#434).
• An item clicked from the Ice Bar or search, partly fixed:
  • Before: if the item next to it was recreated while it was shown, for example when that app restarted, Icey couldn't put it back. It stayed in the visible menu bar.
  • Now: Icey finds the neighbor again, or returns the item to the end of the section it came from (jordanbaird/Ice#729).

These fixes come from reading the code and the reports. None was reproduced on a multi-display or auto-hiding menu bar setup, so please report anything that still happens.

Compatibility

• macOS 14 and 15: the app icon is a flat version of the new icon, generated from it.

Full diff: v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.1...v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.2

Icey 0.11.13-dev.2-icey.1

Highlights

• Works on macOS 26 Tahoe. The Menu Bar Layout pane, the Ice Bar and search show your items again (#5).
• Early macOS 27 support. Hiding items, the Ice Bar and the layout editor work on macOS 27 (#5).
• About 40 Ice bugs fixed, including crashes and the update prompt that couldn't be closed. See the full list (#5, #6).

Upgrading from 0.11.12-icey.1 or Ice

Install this version by hand once. Earlier versions check Ice's update feed, so they won't offer it.

1. Quit Ice or Icey.
2. Download Icey-0.11.13-dev.2-icey.1.dmg below, open it and drag Icey.app to Applications.
3. Move the old Ice.app to the Trash.
4. Open Icey. Coming from Ice, grant Accessibility and Screen Recording again. Coming from Icey 0.11.12-icey.1, they carry over.
5. Set your menu bar appearance again (tint, shadow, border, shape). It resets once with this update.

From now on, Icey updates itself from its own releases. Turn on "Automatically check for updates" in Settings > About.

Features

• macOS 27: hiding, the Ice Bar, search and the layout editor work. Settings that do nothing on macOS 27 are hidden (#5).
• New in Ice 0.11.13, now in Icey: a Liquid Glass design, a choice of section divider style, and an option to turn off the menu bar's right-click menu (#5).
• Updates come from Icey, signed with Icey's key. Ice's updater can no longer replace Icey (#5).

Bug Fixes

• Crashes: clicking the menu bar or the Icey icon, or turning on the Ice Bar with the Dynamic location, could crash the app. It doesn't anymore.
• Update prompt: "Check for updates automatically?" could hide behind windows, ignore clicks and come back on every launch. It now works and stays answered.
• Empty layout on Tahoe: the Menu Bar Layout pane showed "Unable to display menu bar items". It now shows your items.
• Hung apps: an app that stopped responding could freeze Icey and leave the menu bar hidden. Icey now gives up after 1 second.
• Ice Bar: it could close before the pointer reached it, or leave an empty bar on screen after a fullscreen change. Both are fixed.
• Multiple displays: fullscreen and the split shape now behave per display.
• Performance: the CPU and energy savings from 0.11.12-icey.1 carry over to the new code.

Every fixed Ice issue, with what was wrong and what changed, is on the Ice bugs fixed in Icey page.

Compatibility

• The app is now Icey.app. Settings carry over. Remove the old Ice.app, and if you use "Launch at login", turn it off and on again.
• Menu bar appearance resets once. Set it again in Settings > Menu Bar Appearance.
• "Show section dividers" is now "Section divider style". Your choice is migrated.
• macOS 27 support is new. Please report problems.
• Permission still asked after granting it? Remove the app from the list in System Settings with the minus button, then add it again.

Everything that needs action is also in BREAKING_CHANGES.md.

Maintenance

• Signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Universal build for Apple silicon and Intel. Checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt.

Full diff: v0.11.12-icey.1...v0.11.13-dev.2-icey.1

Icey 0.11.12-icey.1

Highlights

• This is the first release of Icey, a performance-focused fork of Ice, the open-source menu bar manager for macOS.
• Icey uses much less CPU and energy. It no longer listens to every mouse move, drag and scroll in the system, and no longer polls the Accessibility API every millisecond after each app switch (#1).
• Icey puts less load on the WindowServer. It takes fewer screen captures, fixes memory leaks, and stops busy-waiting while moving items (#1).

Upgrading from Ice

Icey is based on Ice 0.11.12. It uses the same bundle identifier and settings as Ice, so it replaces an existing Ice install.

1. Quit Ice.
2. Download Icey-0.11.12-icey.1.dmg below and drag Ice.app to Applications, replacing the existing app.
3. Grant Accessibility and Screen Recording again when asked. Icey is signed with a different developer certificate than Ice, so macOS treats it as a new app.
4. Turn off "Automatically check for updates" in Settings > About. This stops Ice's updater from replacing Icey with a future upstream release.

Check the Compatibility section before upgrading, especially on macOS 26 Tahoe.

Bug Fixes

All changes are from #1.

• Mouse movement: moving the mouse raised Ice's energy use even with "Show on hover" off. Event monitors now only run when the settings that use them are on (upstream #334, #479).
• App switching: with menu bar appearance settings on, CPU use spiked after every app switch. Polling now backs off, and only runs for the split shape (upstream #578).
• Ice Bar: after the Ice Bar was shown once, Ice captured the menu bar every 5 seconds forever. It now only does this while the Ice Bar is visible (upstream #819).
• Desktop wallpaper: Ice captured the wallpaper even when the configuration never draws it. It now only does this for the full and split shapes.
• Memory: memory grew over long runtimes. A capture leak is fixed, and the item image cache no longer grows without bound (upstream #530).
• Unresponsive apps: a hung frontmost app could freeze Ice for about 6 seconds at a time. Accessibility calls now time out after 1 second.
• Moving items: moving an item could hang forever when a modifier key was released at the wrong moment. Item caching then stopped for good. Waiting for released modifier keys now polls instead.
• Appearance settings: turning them off left the overlay panels running until relaunch. They are now removed.

Compatibility

• macOS 26 Tahoe: this release does not include upstream's 0.11.13-dev changes for menu bar item ownership. On Tahoe, the layout settings, the Ice Bar and search may show "Unable to display menu bar items". If you rely on those features on Tahoe, stay on Ice 0.11.13-dev.2 until a later Icey release ports the fix.
• Show on hover: Ice now checks for an empty menu bar space at most about 20 times per second while the pointer moves over app menus or items, instead of on every mouse event.
• Accessibility reads: reads that take longer than 1 second now fail and are retried on the next update.

Maintenance

• The app and DMG are signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple, so they open without Gatekeeper warnings. Builds are universal (Apple silicon and Intel). SHA-256 checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt.
• The README now covers Icey's goals, install steps and a section for AI agents (#2, #3).

Full diff: 11edd39...v0.11.12-icey.1